Phantasy Star Online 2 is an online action-rpg, with structure similar to games like Monster Hunter and Vindictus. You select quests and get character specific tasks called Client Orders while on the ship acting as the game hub and then group together with up to 3 other players to play the game. Combat wise, the game varies greatly between the three classes available. Going from hack and slash style combat for the Hunter to Lost Planet style third person shooter combat for the Ranger. The game itself is free to play, but not pay to win - there are no weapons for sale and all you can get for real money are exp/drop/money boosters, cosmetic items and various services.

You can invite your in-game friend's character to the party as an NPC even if they're not online.;

Interrupt Events - randomly generated side-quests that can appear at anytime, and anywhere outside of boss areas. Interrupt events are presented in an easy-to-understand way using voiced text that appears over the screen consisting of: "ATTACK", "DEFEND", PROTECT", "COLLECT", etc.;

Quest performance grading;

My Room, which can be decorated and expanded. This gives you an area to invite over friends and team mates with surprisingly robust customization (Cisce's My Room album);

Team Room, which can be expanded and give your team bonuses;

The ability to switch classes for free while in the Lobby;

Class-specific skill trees;

Various difficulties available for quests;

Story, which can be progressed through the "Matter Board" feature;

You can break specific parts on the enemy's body for additional drops;

Emergency quests which can be selected for limited time and appear at random intervals;

Mags, little helpers known from the previous PSO games are back - they can be fed, evolved and help you during quests;

All paid content is bought with Arks Cash (1 AC = 1 yen), which is an in-game currency bought with real money (guide in the guide section).
Examples of items you can buy are listed below, full list can be found here:

Premium Set, which is basically a 30, 60 or 90 day subscription. It gives you access to a premium space if a block is full, additional drink effects, 40 Client Orders instead of 20, double amount of FUN received, Premium Storage (300 slots), ability to trade items and set up a player shop and use My Room.

Additinal Mags and Skill trees

Additional 10 Bag Slots (character-bound) up to a total of 50 additional slots.

AC Scratch Tickets, which gives access to a lottery with neat costumes and items (which can be bought from player shops)

Cast
Robot-like man-made race with artificial bodies. They excel in Ability, HP and to a degree in Striking and Ranged Attack.
Brand new to PSO2 is the inclusion of FOcast which allows Cast's to finally play as Force characters, a first for the series.

Dewman
New race added in Episode 2. Their defense is low compared to most other races, but they make up for it with high attack. Can have odd-eyes.

The basic 4 classes are available for all the races from the start. Switching between classes is possible while in the Arks Lobby and is free. Each of the jobs comes with it's own skill tree which can be advanced at the rate of 1 point per level. All class Photon Arts are learned through skill discs and can only be set to certain weapons. Force techs can be equipped to your shortcut bar, but require a Force/Techer main/subclass.New classes have been announced for Episode 2, but we don't have any details yet.

Hunter
Close combat warriors who can equip swords, wired lances (blades on wires allowing to throw enemies around), partisans etc. This gives brand new playing styles for every single weapon type, making the game feel as fresh as possible.
Their "dodge move" is a side step. Allowing players to quickly dodge and avoid enemy attacks at will. This combined with Guard is one of your most important assets during boss battles.

Ranger
A ranged class which can enter an over the shoulder aiming mode for better accuracy and breaking specific parts of enemies' bodies.
Rangers have access to three main different types of ranged weapons including: Rifle, Launcher and Gunslash. Gunslash is a unique weapon available for all classes that combine together a ranged weapon with a sword that can be swapped at will.

Force
A powerful magic class using devastating techniques on enemies along with the ability to heal allies.
Forces have a wide range of magic abilities, covering all of the elements in the game along with specific moves tailored to certain styles of play (AOE attacks for example)

Braver is the new class introduced in Episode 2. Fighting with extremely fast Katanas and chargeable Bullet Bows Bravers are a great choice for people who like fast and rewarding gameplay. Braver class is available from the beginning.

Unlockable Classes

The following classes have been added in one of the updates. Unlocking each of them requires reaching level 30 with one of the base classes (Hunter for Fighter etc.) and completing a special Client Order.

Fighter
Fighters are a new class that excels with lightweight weapons and against single targets. Their forte is super short distance combat. Uses Twin Daggers, Double Sabers and Knuckles.

Gunner
Gunners excel at lightweight ranged distance weapons. Their forte is short to mid distance combat with overwhelming attacks, not giving the enemy any chances when they counter attack the enemy. Uses Double Machineguns

Techer
The Techer, a high powered tech user, who holds the strength to battle along the front lines. Techers even have higher S-DEF than Forces. Using normal attacks in battle is one of their strong points. Fights with Wands.

Since SEGA thinks that being able to change your class at will between quests isn’t enough (and they want people to level up more classes), a subclass system was introduced. After completing a certain client order on level 20, it’s possible to set up any class as a “subclass”, receiving 20% of its statistics, all passive and active skills. There’s a catch though - if an active skill requires a certain class-specific weapon, you will need a class-free weapon to use it.
Example:If you set Ranger as your subclass and Hunter is your main class, you will have to equip (for example) the Bouquet Rifle, which all classes can use in order to activate/use Weak Bullet.
[b]Subclass will receive 10% of your exp until level 40.

Aside from new classes and the subclass system, the following content/systems (and more) have been added since the release:

Increased Level Cap

The current max class level is 60 and it will be increased to 65 in the Autumn update.

New fields and bosses

As you may remember, the beta to retail update introduced the Tundra field with big Mamooth and 2 Snow Panthers as bosses:

Next big update gave us access to the Mines, where players can fight a transforming robot “Transmizer” and the huge “Big Vardha”:

After that, we've got to visit the Flying Continent, aka. the land of recolors, since most of the enemies are blue versions of dragons known from the Caves, including the mid-boss Caterdra'nsa. Still, we’ve got a new huge boss - Quartz Dragon:

Last, but not least, the newest big update allowed us to enjoy Ruins, place that feels really fresh, despite the amount of the new Darker filth polluting the place. Also two new bosses which can appear in all other fields.

Dragon Sanctuary is the home of a huge Dragon X which has little girl's voice. Update trailer.

Coast (Beach) is a summer-themed field with mutated fish themed enemies and an epic boss fight.

New difficulty levels, Advance and Extreme Quests

For all who are looking for a place to level between 20 and 30 or past 40, two changes has been made. The one for low level players is an addition of normal difficulty for all fields. No more running Forest/Caves until you drop, it’s now possible to visit all zones.
Level 40 players wanting to level up as fast as possible got access to the Very Hard difficulty setting. Though nothing has changed in the monster’s AI, they now have more HP and hit harder. While playing on Very Hard it’s also possible to encounter rare enemies and rare bosses which have their own drop tables:
That's not all. Advance Quests have been introduced for all players who want to hunt for rare items and fight enemies over level 55. Starting them requires a high fee, but you get the first run for free and the chance of items required for another run dropping during the first one is quite high.Extreme Quests are "virtual" missions, where you have to slash your way through small rooms with different requirements (no healing, kill monster by hitting his weak spot). You can choose your rewards based on the items you've collected throughout the quest every 5 floors.
They require Extreme Passes, which can be received every 22 hours from an NPC on the right side of the quest counter.

10-12 star items

Since SEGA doesn’t want us to trade the strongest items, so that we can farm for them ourselves, the non-tradeable 10 star rarity items have been introduced. After that, 11 and 12 star items have also been added and 10 star ones have been made tradeable on Player Shops after meeting certain requirements.

It's also important to note that the emergencies are only accessible for 30 minutes but can also happen every 30 minutes.During Emergency, you can access all EQ on a given planet.

New Emergency Codes

This little mini-quests we get while doing normal quests. Yeah, there's more of those now. The new ones include objectives like:
- Protecting the Naura Sisters' cake shop! (And paying full price for the cakes after that anyway)
- Protecting the Lillipians from enemies! (Or killing them "by accident" with a Photon Burst or a AoE attack)
- Destroying a darker orb! (Or it will cover the whole area in blood rain that will poison you)
- Destroying multiple darker orbs! (Or you will get poisoned when coming near to its remains)
- Standing like an idiot around a weird fish-like Mr. Umbrella in hope of getting hit and receiving an item.

Team Room, Orders

Although Teams have been in the game since the beginning, they're now something more than just an additional chat channel. One of the previous updates introduced Team Rooms, where members can gather, along with a Photon Tree, which can give random EXP/drop rate/attack etc. boosts. The tree needs constant nourishing with team points, which can be obtained by doing a new type of orders - Team Orders (can be repeated daily and they change every week). Points can also be used to upgrade boosts given by the tree.

Daily Orders

If all your Client Orders are on cooldowns, you may want to check Daily Orders at the quest counter. There's one for every difficulty level and as the name suggests, they are changing on daily basis. It’s possible to turn it in later though, so no rushing is required.

Time Attacks

If you want to earn A LOT of meseta every day, time attacks are the way to go. There are currently 4 time attack courses available - one for each planet. Completing them under the time required for client orders giving a hefty amount of meseta requires 4 people, good deal of skill teamwork and knowledge of the courses (multiple shortcuts and dead ends). Time attacks are available for all difficulty levels.

Abduction and Clones

Given you've unlocked Very Hard difficulty, there's a low chance that you'll be abducted during a Time Attack countdown and abducted to Darkers' Den. If you'll be able to clear it, your character's clone may appear during the Clone Emergency Code.

New Matter Boards and Story Quests

Total number of story quests on both PC and the Vita is 11, and all of them are going to become available on both systems soon. Completing them gives access to new NPCs for Client Orders/as NPC partners.
For everyone who stopped playing a few months ago - system that makes a MB drop a certain drop after a set number of enemy kills has been added. It's also possible to search for all items on a selected MB, if the nodes are active.With Episode 2, drops for the main route of EP1 matter boards are easier to get.

Recycle Shop

For everyone who tried the PSO2 version of real money Gacha - the AC scratch, Recycle Shop is a place to trade in unwanted items for mag devices etc. Since the introduction of this shop, 100k meseta has become the lowest price for an AC item in My Shop.

New Mag Evolution Devices (Sato!)

Tired of your mags old look? Use one of the new mag evolution devices which can be acquired from Scratches, My Shop, Recycle Shop etc. Those include: mini-gundam Mag, Rappy Mag, Sato Mag etc.

Episode 2 is live! Aside from the new race, class, field and story content it introduces quite a few new systems etc.

For a throughout explanation of the new Support Partner (little partner character) and Arks Road (new tutorial) features, access this link. Ricardo did a great job explaining both of them.

There's a NeoGAF team on Ship02. If you want to join us, contact one of the following Gaffers:

dr apocalipsis

Twentytwo

skyy

Netto-kun

djplaeskool

Killthee

If you want to leave the contact information in this thread, remember to give us your Character Name *AND* the Player Name (not your login), since there can be more than 1 character with the same name on 1 ship.

Frequently Asked Questions!

Q: Is this out in the West?A: Not yet, the Western version is supposed to be released someday. All we know is that it has been delayed.

Q: Do I have to pay?A: No, downloading the game client and playing the game are both free. There are premium services and items that can be bought with real money.

Q: So... Pay to win?A: Not really. You get bigger item storage, ability to sell/trade items to other players etc., but there's nothing there that will make your character stronger. Leveling without XP boosters isn't a drag as well. It's much easier to make money with premium though, because of the my shop access.

Q: Are there any regional restrictions preventing me from playing?A: No! You're free to create an account, download client and play. Not being able to use non-Japanese credit cards is the only thing restriction.

Q: What's different in the Vita version?A: While the PC and Vita versions access the same game servers, there are restrictions on which blocks you can enter. The servers are split into three block types: PC only (0xx), Vita only (1xx), and PC+Vita (2xx). On any block allowing Vita clients, fields will be a little smaller and enemy rate will be reduced slightly, and only two emergency trials can be active at any time (versus the maximum of four simultaneous emergency trials on the PC only blocks). PSE Burst lasts longer on the Vita and PC+Vita blocks to compensate for the lower enemy count.

The Vita client has a variety of control schemes; the default control scheme is designed for players accustomed to the Phantasy Star Portable series while there is an alternate scheme that more closely resembles the default PC controller layout.

You can also play anywhere, whether over Wi-Fi or 3G. You MUST be connected to the Internet to play.

Q: I want new stuff! Is the game updated often?A: Yes, there is a big update every month.

Gonna be jumping back into the Vita version soon. Took a little bit of a break, but I'm really getting the itch to just dive in again despite my having other games I should be playing and articles to be writing.

Love that there's an Episode 2 coming this summer as well. Lots of new content on the horizon and I still haven't made it through the base stuff yet. Hahaha.

Not memory wise (lots of textures and differents models since every player have his custom look), not power wise (tons of alpha effects and too many events at a time). It would look barely better than Vita version in some aspects, worse in others.

This game is so fucking good in combat feel, all the 'action MMOs' are 10,000 years behind.

I would certainly love for them to have an English version eventually on PC and hopefully PS3/4 one day, but they update the Japanese one so frequently, I can only imagine how far behind Sega of America will be.

Would be nice if they worked jointly on it though, like, have representatives from America working with the content makers in Japan so everyone can have the content at the same time, but I don't see them caring enough...

I just finished the tundra and started the next area. Tundra 'boss' was pretty intense, it feels crazy good to do the perfect 'just guard' against bosses and have them take damage from it, when done well, it looks like something out of MGRising.

Originally Posted by LittleBoots

I'm trying to register a pso2 account. If I post the captcha, could someone tell me what the letters are? And how quickly do I have to do it before it times out?

You can post it, not sure on time out, you get at least a few minutes.

This game is so fucking good in combat feel, all the 'action MMOs' are 10,000 years behind.

I would certainly love for them to have an English version eventually on PC and hopefully PS3/4 one day, but they update the Japanese one so frequently, I can only imagine how far behind Sega of America will be.

Would be nice if they worked jointly on it though, like, have representatives from America working with the content makers in Japan so everyone can have the content at the same time, but I don't see them caring enough...

I just finished the tundra and started the next area. Tundra 'boss' was pretty intense, it feels crazy good to do the perfect 'just guard' against bosses and have them take damage from it, when done well, it looks like something out of MGRising.

You can post it, not sure on time out, you get at least a few minutes.

Do you have a team or want to join us? We need more active players! :)

I had good fun with the time I spent with the japanese version, just that I feel rather limited in knowing what to do even with guides so I decided to wait, maybe I will dip into it again soon when I have plenty of free time.

Keiician, add my ID to the OP please. I need more people to play with (and help me with client orders!). :)

ID: 10149616

That ID lets people refer you with the friend invite system but we need your player name to find you ingame still! My player name is StarCreator if you want to throw me an add - just let me know what yours is if it's not something I'll recognize!

That ID lets people refer you with the friend invite system but we need your player name to find you ingame still! My player name is StarCreator if you want to throw me an add - just let me know what yours is if it's not something I'll recognize!

Ah okay! Player ID name is Blueblur (without the number 1). I sent you a friend request!

Just remember to use the Friend Invite details in the OP; you can only establish a link before you make your first character, and the reward badges you get from it give you access to items otherwise inaccessible.

Just remember to use the Friend Invite details in the OP; you can only establish a link before you make your first character, and the reward badges you get from it give you access to items otherwise inaccessible.